Beowulf Text

HROTHGAR AND BEOWULF.

Hrothgar answered, helm of the Scyldings:“I remember this man as the merest of striplings.His father long dead now was Ecgtheow titled,Him Hrethel the Geatman granted at home hisOne only daughter; his battle-brave sonIs come but now, sought a trustworthy friend.Seafaring sailors asserted it then,Who valuable gift-gems of the Geatmen1carriedAs peace-offering thither, that he thirty men’s grappleHas in his hand, the hero-in-battle.The holy Creator usward sent him,To West-Dane warriors, I ween, for to render’Gainst Grendel’s grimness gracious assistance:I shall give to the good one gift-gems for courage.Hasten to bid them hither to speed them,2To see assembled this circle of kinsmen;Tell them expressly they’re welcome in sooth toThe men of the Danes.” To the door of the building

Wulfgar went then, this word-message shouted:“My victorious liegelord bade me to tell you,The East-Danes’ atheling, that your origin knows he,And o’er wave-billows wafted ye welcome are hither,Valiant of spirit. Ye straightway may enterClad in corslets, cased in your helmets,To see King Hrothgar. Here let your battle-boards,Wood-spears and war-shafts, await your conferring.”The mighty one rose then, with many a liegeman,An excellent thane-group; some there did await them,And as bid of the brave one the battle-gear guarded.Together they hied them, while the hero did guide them,’Neath Heorot’s roof; the high-minded went thenSturdy ’neath helmet till he stood in the building.Beowulf spake (his burnie did glisten,His armor seamed over by the art of the craftsman):

“Hail thou, Hrothgar! I am Higelac’s kinsmanAnd vassal forsooth; many a wonderI dared as a stripling. The doings of Grendel,In far-off fatherland I fully did know of:Sea-farers tell us, this hall-building standeth,Excellent edifice, empty and uselessTo all the earlmen after evenlight’s glimmer’Neath heaven’s bright hues hath hidden its glory.This my earls then urged me, the most excellent of them,Carles very clever, to come and assist thee,Folk-leader Hrothgar; fully they knew ofThe strength of my body. Themselves they beheld meWhen I came from the contest, when covered with goreFoes I escaped from, where five3I had bound,The giant-race wasted, in the waters destroyingThe nickers by night, bore numberless sorrows,The Weders avenged (woes had they suffered)Enemies ravaged; alone now with GrendelI shall manage the matter, with the monster of evil,The giant, decide it. Thee I would thereforeBeg of thy bounty, Bright-Danish chieftain,Lord of the Scyldings, this single petition:Not to refuse me, defender of warriors,Friend-lord of folks, so far have I sought thee,ThatImay unaided, my earlmen assisting me,This brave-mooded war-band, purify Heorot.I have heard on inquiry, the horrible creatureFrom veriest rashness recks not for weapons;I this do scorn then, so be Higelac gracious,My liegelord belovèd, lenient of spirit,To bear a blade or a broad-fashioned target,A shield to the onset; only with hand-gripThe foe I must grapple, fight for my life then,Foeman with foeman; he fain must rely onThe doom of the Lord whom death layeth hold of.70I ween he will wish, if he win in the struggle,To eat in the war-hall earls of the Geat-folk,Boldly to swallow4them, as of yore he did oftenThe best of the Hrethmen! Thou needest not troubleA head-watch to give me;5he will have me dripping75And dreary with gore, if death overtake me,6Will bear me off bleeding, biting and mouthing me,The hermit will eat me, heedless of pity,Marking the moor-fens; no more wilt thou need thenFind me my food.7If I fall in the battle,80Send to Higelac the armor that servethTo shield my bosom, the best of equipments,Richest of ring-mails; ’tis the relic of Hrethla,The work of Wayland. Goes Weird as she must go!”

[1] Some render ‘gif-sceattas’ by ‘tribute.’—‘Géata’ B. and Th. emended to ‘Géatum.’ If this be accepted, change ‘ofthe Geatmen’ to ‘tothe Geatmen.’[2] If t.B.’s emendation of vv. 386, 387 be accepted, the two lines, ‘Hasten … kinsmen’ will read:Hasten thou, bid the throng of kinsmen go into the hall together.[3] For 420 (b) and 421 (a), B. suggests:Þær ic (on) fífelgeban ýðde eotena cyn=where I in the ocean destroyed the eoten-race.—t.B. accepts B.’s “brilliant” ‘fífelgeban,’ omits ‘on,’ emends ‘cyn’ to ‘hám,’ arranging:Þær ic fífelgeban ýðde, eotena hám=where I desolated the ocean, the home of the eotens.—This would be better but for changing ‘cyn’ to ‘hám.’—I suggest:Þær ic fífelgeband (cf. nhd. Bande) ýðde, eotena cyn=where I conquered the monster band, the race of the eotens. This makes no change except to read ‘fífel’ for ‘fífe.’[4] ‘Unforhte’ (444) is much disputed.—H.-So. wavers between adj. and adv. Gr. and B. take it as an adv. modifyingetan: Will eat the Geats fearlessly.—Kl. considers this reading absurd, and proposes ‘anforhte’ = timid.—Understanding ‘unforhte’ as an adj. has this advantage, viz. that it gives a parallel to ‘Geátena leóde’: but to take it as an adv. is more natural. Furthermore, to call the Geats ‘brave’ might, at this point, seem like an implied thrust at the Danes, so long helpless; while to call his own men ‘timid’ would be befouling his own nest.[5] For ‘head-watch,’ cf. H.-So. notes and cf. v. 2910.—Th. translates:Thou wilt not need my head to hide(i.e., thou wilt have no occasion to bury me, as Grendel will devour me whole).—Simrock imagines a kind of dead-watch.—Dr. H. Wood suggests:Thou wilt not have to bury so much as my head(for Grendel will be a thorough undertaker),—grim humor.[6] S. proposes a colon after ‘nimeð’ (l. 447). This would make no essential change in the translation.[7] Owing to the vagueness of ‘feorme’ (451), this passage is variously translated. In our translation, H.-So.’s glossary has been quite closely followed. This agrees substantially with B.’s translation (P. and B. XII. 87). R. translates:Thou needst not take care longer as to the consumption of my dead body.‘Líc’ is also a crux here, as it may mean living body or dead body.